Triggering? Girls and Eating Disorders

NY Times has an article on 'contagion' and eating disorders especially among young girls regarding Young Adult literature.  

Quotes:

"The Internet has given rise to countless “pro-ana,” or pro-anorexia, Web sites that promote anorexia as a “lifestyle” rather than a disease. Photos of rail-thin celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and the Olsen sisters serve as “thinspiration,” while reading lists tout the appeal of eating disorder books."

"I’ve gotten tips, motivation and many of the characters have become my role-models"

"Are there things in this book that will trigger unsuspecting people? And if so what do we do about that? What their response was, was that we have a culture that glamorizes this. The docs say, Yes, the book is going to trigger people. Turning on the television triggers people — looking at billboards, going to the computer, walking past a magazine rack. But the challenge in the book they felt I had met was to show the entire story. There is nothing glamorous or lovely about an eating disorder. It’s horror."

"There is a dangerous trend to view anorexia as a lifestyle choice rather than a serious mental illness"

"Books such as these should be read with careful parental supervision."

From the Comments:

"IN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION: In writing about eating disorders, are authors, unwittingly, creating an alluring guidebook to the disease? MY ANSWER, BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IS: “YES”

More than 28 years ago, I, as a teen, first began reading about bulimia and anorexia in popular, safe magazines like Woman’s Day, and Ladies Home Journal...These magazine articles, which were meant to inform, led me down the road to be a practicing anorexic/bulimic for almost 15 years. Be VERY wary of these types of books. They may very well turn out to be a how-to guide for your teen."

"On the “Yes” front: I know my disorder was triggered by an article in New York Magazine - among the first on the topic, a few years before it burst into the headlines...

On the “No” front: Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, pica, EDNOS, are all manifestations of an underlying problem. Whether you want to define this problem as a reaction to external issues (e.g., poor peer relationships, dysfunctional family, etc.) or internal issues (depression, OCD, bipolar) or most likely an interaction of both, there will be SOME trigger and SOME manifestation. If it isn’t an eating disorder, it could be acting out, or inappropriate sexual behaviour, or kleptomania, or cutting, or something else. The psychological force is a river, and if you dam one channel it will cut itself another.""

"I don’t think it’s a coincidence that more girls are having problems with anorexia and bulimia at the same time. The same goes for “cutting.” No one cut or had these eating disorders before they became popular. Just like no one considered shooting up their schools until others did it"

Getty Images: Self Harm

Getty Images has a few (19) images found by the search terms "self harm".  They're all listed under 'Creative'.  

A lot of the images feature blood, the color, drops, the razors, the whiteness of most of the subjects and the contrast of the blood and the skin, scarification, bathrooms (privacy?), and metaphors.

Methods include knives, burning/stoves, gun, alcohol. 

E.G.:

Kill Yourself or Die Trying

Online website that sells belts and custom-worded t-shirts, etc.  

'Kill Yourself or Die Trying'

See Me: UK Anti-Stigma Campaign

The UK launched an anti-stigma campaign about a year ago that focused on all kinds of issues of mental health, including self harm. Find out more about See Me.

Check out the ad about 'Cloud Boy', a boy who self harms.

Also of note: This article that talks about the UK campaign.

Self Harm: Cut it out

Article about the UK authorities' stance on self-harm, new campaigns to reduce stigma.  This article is fascinating because it is decidedly ANTI-self-harm, and ANTI-stigma-reduction.  Quotes:

 

"The UK medical authorities are sending the message that young people hurting themselves is an acceptable lifestyle choice."

"It is a sign of a sick society when young people start turning to self-harm to work through their emotional problems. But it is an even sicker society in which medical and political authorities give sanction to their actions." 

"In March 2004, the Mental Health Foundation and Camelot Foundation launched an inquiry at the House of Commons looking into self-harm in young people, which was backed by MPs from across the political spectrum. The inquiry’s website cheerfully announces its aim to ‘educate and raise awareness about self-harm - for everyone!’. By ‘shifting culture’, it wants to move ‘towards a more flexible, user-focused, non-alienating, “no-blame” culture for young people who have experience of self-harm’ (3)."

"Michael Maher, a group analyst, tells me that when he first started working in the area of self-harm 17 years ago, it was seen as an ‘exotic behaviour’. Now, he said, it has become part of people’s vocabulary: ‘if you’re going to choose a language of distress, self-harm is part of the menu of choices that people use for expressing distress.’ The issue has become part of popular culture: for example, there was a recent story about self-harm inHollyoaks, the soap for young people. We also hear about celebrities who have harmed themselves, such as Johnny Depp and Princess Diana - which prompted the MSN self-harm discussion group to set up a section entitled ‘Your [sic] not alone - celebs who SH’ (5)."

"But self-harm needs to keep its ‘stigma’, in the sense that we shouldn’t forget that there is something deeply wrong with it. Giving self-harm official sanction as a ‘coping mechanism’ is only likely to entrench the practice, and make it more acceptable. "

Read more here.

The Self Injury Anthology

This site has a small catalogue of pop culture references to self-harm, alongside some essays about the topic.  Of great interest!  There are categories for Music, Art, Music Videos, Literature, Non Fiction, Fiction, Movies, TV Series, and the Bible.  

hosted by http://gabrielle.self-injury.net/  Check out their boards!

Pepsi Suicide Ads

Advertising Age has a comment on the (now pulled) Pepsi Suicide Ads, using, well, here's their description:

"There's but one calorie in PepsiMax and, as we know, one is the loneliest number. So it only makes sense that a new flight of print ads from BBDO Dusseldorf show a cute but sad little personification of a calorie committing suicide in a few ultraviolent ways, including a gunshot, a hanging, self-immolation and even slitting his little blue wrist with a razor blade. "

Each image gives several different methods.  Why the 'overkill'?

Also gives comment on the GM 'Robot Suicide' ad that ran a few years back, with a link to the EDITED VERSION after people spoke out.  Power to the people?

COMMENTS:

"These days it's pretty easy to offend anyone. I for one really think these ads are cute :)

quite like the suicidal robot marvin from hitchhiker's. Maybe if they did away with stuff like blades and blood people would get off their back." (Interesting...the blood is the concern? Talking about pain and symbolic markers...)

"Fantastic ads. Something different to the regular boring stuff we've grown accustomed to. And anyway you can see far worse on Cartoon Network. That said, I guess with everyone feeling a little sensitive about violence post-Mumbai, the timing is probably not as cool as it could have been. Pity." (The 'Violence is Everywhere' defense)

Suicide in Advertising: From the Horse's Mouth

Here's an advertising blog's defense of the use of suicide in advertising: Advertising Pawn

Some key quotes:

"we provide you with an article on suicide and how to end your life with a bang (or a splash)."

"Advertising just loves hyperbolic behavior. In our world, suicide isn’t morose and heart-crunching (let’s leave that to real life). We prefer to consider suicide as the epitome of a relationship with a brand. After all, suicide is just the doubt looking for the truth, which means that our products become the ultimate reason to live, die, or think of life differently."

Be sure to check out the example ads they post at the bottom.

Trevor Project Ad Campaign: I'm Glad I Failed

the Trevor Project's online ad campaign against suicide.

Info here:  http://www.thetrevorproject.org/ImGladIFailed/